Merry Old Christmas

January 6th—Twelve days after Christmas Day—is the day that many celebrate Epiphany, or “Old Christmas”. According to many Christians, on this date the Three Kings or “wise men,” arrived in Bethlehem—bringing gifts to the infant Jesus.

The observance of Epiphany goes back centuries, and when the Scots-Irish pioneers settled in the hills of Southern Appalachia, they continued to celebrate this holiday. Over time, however, the Appalachian people came to know the Day of Epiphany as “Old Christmas.” While many countries celebrate the day by giving traditional gifts, the Appalachian people observed “Old Christmas” in ways that were quite unique. Today, many might find these traditions to be superstitious, they were taken very seriously by the people of this region.

One belief concerning “Old Christmas” was that if a person would stay awake until midnight on Old Christmas Eve, then go out to a barn where animals were kept, they would hear the animals pray. Alex Stewart, a pioneer from the hills of East Tennessee, was one who celebrated this tradition.

He recalls, “On Old Christmas night at twelve o’clock, you go to where there’s any cattle, and you go and sit down and listen at them pray. I tried that twice. The first time, it liked to have scared me to death. They got to going on so, that I broke and run back to the house. But, I got to studying about it and then tried it again. Me and my oldest sister went together…we went down to the barn and sat down and waited till about twelve o’clock, and just slipped up right easy—didn’t make no racket. We had two milk cows, and lo and behold, they started groaning and going on—just moo-o-o-o-o moo-o-o-o-o, and we got scared and run to the house. Grandpa Stewart had told me they’d do that, but I hadn’t believed it. After I tried it twice, I saw they was something to it.”

According to the Appalachian people, that isn’t the only strange occurrence you’ll encounter on “Old Christmas.” Alex declared, “…and I don’t care how cold it is, nor how deep the ground is froze, elder bushes will sprout out of the ground on Old Christmas night. They’ll sprout out that night and never get no bigger till the sap rises in the spring of the year. If you don’t believe me, you find you a place where there’s a bunch of elders a growing and you look around underneath the bushes the night before Old Christmas, and you won’t see any sprouts. Then, you go back the next morning and you’ll see them sprouts a peeping through the ground everywhere—don’t matter how hard the ground is froze. I’ve checked that out myself. Oh! And don’t ever loan anything to nobody on Old Christmas, because you’re not apt to get it back.”

Today, very few recognize the Old Christmas traditions, but according to our friend Alex, they’ll hold true until the end of time.

Our thanks to the Museum of Appalachia for making public this forgotten gem of an article.